President Cyril Ramaphosa revealed on Monday that consultations are underway on the legislation to make the Investigating Directorate a permanent entity within the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and to prescribe its powers and safeguard its independence.

Ramaphosa announced the merger during his State of the Nation Address last week, which he says will deepen collaboration with other entities in the criminal justice system and enrol more cases in the courts. He added that this also has implications for funding and operational capacity.

The Investigating Directorate’s investigators are currently seconded from the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, the Hawks.

Once the Investigating Directorate merges with the NPA, it will be able to improve the capacity of its existing team of specialist investigators and prosecutors and, government hopes, recruit new ones.

In his weekly letter to the nation, Ramaphosa pointed out that over many years corruption had systematically weakened the State, damaged key institutions and eroded the country’s social fabric.

He said working with other multidisciplinary units, such as the Anti-Corruption Task Team and the Fusion Centre, government would strengthen the Investigating Directorate in its work at the frontline in the fight against corruption and State capture. 

“We set up world class institutions before. Now is the time to rebuild our institutions so that they are able to stand the test of time and advance the values and vision of our constitutional democracy,” he stated.

This week will mark five years since government embarked on a new journey in the fight against corruption.

Ramaphosa noted that the Investigating Directorate had been leading an innovative approach to ensuring accountability from those implicated in State capture, explaining that as part of its ongoing criminal investigation into complex corruption at Eskom, the NPA’s Investigating Directorate had finalised a comprehensive settlement agreement with an international company, ABB, to pay over R2.5-billion in punitive reparations to South Africa.

The payment will be made into the Criminal Asset Recovery Account which he says is reflective of the NPA’s two-pronged strategy to deal with corruption through prosecuting perpetrators and recovering stolen money.

“I said that if we are to turn the tide on corruption, we must strengthen law enforcement institutions and shield them from external interference or manipulation. Since then, we have made substantial progress in strengthening the State’s ability to deal with corruption,” he said.

The first significant step was the establishment of a Special Tribunal to enable the Special Investigating Unit to expedite civil claims against corrupt individuals and to recover stolen funds.

As of March 2022, the value of civil litigation referred to the High Courts and the Special Tribunal amounted to R75-billion.

Ramaphosa said this was roughly equivalent to what was budgeted for the child support grant this year. Currently, around 119 cases, worth more than R12-billion, are enrolled at the Special Tribunal. 

Another change was the 2019 establishment of the Investigating Directorate in the office of the National Director of Public Prosecutions to prosecute serious organised crime and corruption cases. 

Ramaphosa explained that since its establishment, the Investigating Directorate had been preparing several cases of serious corruption, including those emanating from the State Capture Commission, for trial. This forms part of the NPA’s priority plan to deal with State capture and high-level corruption. 

Last year saw the arrest of several individuals allegedly implicated in State capture cases. A total of 187 accused persons have been taken to court in 32 State capture and corruption cases, and approximately R12.9-billion in funds and assets have been frozen.